GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOW. 413 



The male has the bill purplish-black with the base of the 

 lower mandible yellow beneath : the orbits yellow : the irides 

 brown : the head and cheeks are dark ash-grey, the shaft of 

 the crest-feathers black ; the rest of the upper parts greyish- 

 brown, many of the feathers broadly tipped with white ; 

 wing-quills dull hair-brown, with the hidden part of most of 

 the primaries rusty, and tipped with white ; tail-quills darker 

 greyish-brown, tipped with white, the middle pair glossed 

 with green ; lower parts generally white, tinged with yellow, 

 especially on the throat and sides of the neck: legs, toes 

 and claws, bluish-black. 



The whole length is from fifteen and a half to sixteen 

 inches, of which the tail alone measures about nine; the 

 wing from the carpal joint eight inches and a quarter. 



The female differs from the male in having the primaries 

 chestnut, except at the tip. 



Considerable difference is shewn by the young, in which 

 the head is blackish-brown instead of grey, and the whole 

 of the upper surface is much darker, while the chin and 

 throat are of a deeper yellow, verging upon orange. 



The vignette represents the young of the common Cuckow. 



